UKTV gets 20 Years on Death Row

MIPCOM: UKTV has picked up a four-part true crime series from French indie Pernel Media, while BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) has agreed to distribute the series globally.

20 Years on Death Row was ordered by 13éme Rue

20 Years on Death Row (4×60’) was originally commissioned by French pay TV channel 13éme Rue and will now air on UKTV’s Really channel in the UK. BBCWW will shop the series worldwide outside France and the UK.

The series follows the case of Keith Doolin, a long-distance truck driver in the US with no previous convictions who has spent 20 years on death row in San Francisco for killing two women in 1995.

Doolin has always maintained his innocence after a botched trial during which his original attorney, who was later disbarred, gambled away the defence fund. A key witness in the trial, who was later convicted of murder, also revealed crucial information to her lawyer that further points to Doolin’s innocence before committing suicide.

But with California voting to speed up the death penalty process in 2016, Doolin is now in a race against time.

Emma Sparks, UKTV’s head of acquisitions, acquired 20 Years on Death Row for UKTV and Jon Lindley, head of specialist factual, acquired the series for BBCWW. The executive producer is Pernel Media founder Samuel Kissous.